


Fault

by ladyhoneydarlinglove



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood, M/M, injured Jean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 03:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyhoneydarlinglove/pseuds/ladyhoneydarlinglove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean can't let Eren die until his job is finished.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fault

"This is your fault," Jean slurs at Eren. His (assumed) concussion makes it difficult to articulate, and Jean's rather surprised he managed to say anything at all.

"Me?" Eren glares. "How the hell is this my fault?"

"Because... you know." Jean makes a vague gesture with the hand not attached to a broken and bleeding arm. "You... And the thing. With the Titan."

"You're going to have to be a little more specific," Eren grits out. Jean frowns at him.

"No need to get so pissy with me," he mumbles. A pained yell follows moments later as Eren quits being gentle about wrapping the gash on his leg. "Watch it, dumbass, that hurt!"

"No need to get pissy with you?" Eren repeats, ignoring him. "No need to get pissy with you? You're lucky I haven't thrown you out of this fucking tree for being a suicidal prick! I will get as pissy with you as I fucking please!"

"You're overreacting," Jean tells him; the words run together and Jean's not sure Eren’s even understood him, until he looks at Eren's face and sees the infuriated anguish which resides there. "It's not that bad," Jean continues anyway, because Jean can't help but push Eren's buttons when he's perfectly cognizant, never mind half delirious.

"Oh yes, because being half-dead is just a notch before fucking peachy," Eren hisses, and Jean shrugs.

"In our line of work—"

"Shut up," Eren snaps. "Shut up right now or I swear I will fucking shove you off. You have a job to do, Commander, and I am not letting you die until it's finished."

"I think that's supposed to be my line." Jean coughs, hacking up blood and mucus over the front of his shirt, where it becomes indistinguishable from the other stains already there. "And also the reason I ended up like this in the first place." He looks down at his leg, bandaged now but still bleeding from where the Titan's teeth managed to sink in. "I've gotta keep you from dying, what with you being humanity's greatest asset and all."

"Well then as humanity's greatest asset, I'm deeming you my greatest asset, which means you're not allowed to die until I finish my job. So shut up and stop bleeding already!" Eren stares at Jean's leg wound with a pained expression, watching as blood continues to seep through the bandages, and all Jean can manage to do is laugh.

"I'm you're greatest asset?" Jean grins at Eren, blood dribbling from his mouth and down his chin. "What about Armin and Mikasa?"

"Armin doesn't go on field mission unless it's an emergency, you know that," Eren snaps, taking Jean's arm and wrapping it in a makeshift sling. "And Mikasa can take care of herself. You, on the other hand, seem to have taken to the idea that every fucking mission you go on is a suicide mission. What happened to the Jean that wanted to live behind Wall Sina and never fight a Titan in his life?"

Jean attempts to laugh again, but it degrades into a hacking fit as more blood dispels itself from his lungs. "He’s long gone," he wheezes. "Also your fault, by the way."

"What, you not wanting to live behind Wall Sina?"

"Yeah." Jean grins. "I mean, if you hadn't kept preaching about fighting for humanity during your training days, or ended up with the Titan shifter power that inspired loads of us to put our lives on the line because for the first time in a hundred years we saw hope, I would've joined the Military Police, gotten lazy and complacent, and probably be dead by now. But no, instead you had to go and be a symbol of hope of the retaliation of mankind and all that other bullshit, so instead I joined the Scouting Legion and improved my skills and fought to stay alive, and now I'm Commander and I have to keep fighting because I won't abandon my soldiers. So yeah, your fault."

Jean's still grinning at Eren, who continues to stare at him for several long moments before bursting into a hysterical noise reminiscent of laughter. "So I suppose you being injured is also my fault because you wanted to keep humanity's last hope alive at any cost?" he asks, brushing Jean's blood-soaked hair out of his eyes.

"Exactly," Jean says, and Eren lets out another burst of hysterics.

"I guess I should apologize, then," Eren says, taking off his cloak. "For getting you into this mess."

"Probably," Jean agrees. He sighs as Eren wraps his cloak around Jean, his own having disappeared somewhere in the melee. Eren's warm fingers brush against his cheek and Jean wishes he could close his eyes and fall asleep locked in the comfort of Eren's embrace. But the mass of Titans swarming at the bottom of the tree isn't going anywhere, and even when they're gone Eren will still have to make it back to headquarters with an injured Jean in tow. Later, Jean tells himself. When he doesn't have a concussion and a hoard on hungry Titans just waiting to devour him.

"Jean,"" Eren says, and Jean looks at him. "Do you... Do you ever—"

"Shut up," Jean coughs. "You know I don't have any regrets. You think I would've agreed to take over as Commander when Levi died if I wasn't absolutely certain I wanted to continue down this road? I know you're dumb as shit, Eren, but come on."

Eren makes a face, the scrunched and angry look the same on a thirty-year-old man as it was on a teenager. "You're the one who's dumb as shit," he mumbles, but the effect of the words is ruined when he presses a kiss to Jean's cracked lips. "How do you feel?" he asks, and Jean rolls his eyes.

"I'll live," he says. "Now hurry up and take out those Titans. I want to get to the infirmary sooner than later."

Eren cracks a smile, the first real one Jean's seen all day. It puts warmth in his stomach, an assurance he'll survive, because Eren wouldn't be smiling unless he was sure Jean could recover. "You got it, Commander," he teases, and Jean flicks him off as Eren jumps from the branch, roaring as he hits the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of Jean being Commander after Levi dies instead of Erwin is due to a theory I have that Erwin will die sometime before the series ends, and Levi will take over as Commander. After Levi dies, Jean takes over with Armin as his second in command/successor if anything should happen to Jean.


End file.
